


Promises

by illa_dixit



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Deathfic, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-24
Updated: 2012-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-02 12:08:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illa_dixit/pseuds/illa_dixit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All the way to Heaven.</p>
<p>Set somewhere after the end of the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Just sort of messing around with "What if"s.  
> I think that if any of the Strawhats had to die, it'd probably end up being Zoro (even though he's my favorite), for several reasons. A, There's no way he'd ever let any of the others die before him. B, He's only going to die if there's no other possible way to save someone. And C, his dream is pretty much the only one that ends once he reaches the goal. Everyone else has more adventures to look towards.
> 
> ... Also, Zoro and Robin are bffs in my brain, and there is nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. They're the chillest members of the crew (most of the time), and also I think their "protect at all costs" mentality is too similar for the other not to have picked up on it.

_He went to Robin._

_It was ages ago - soon after Skypia, actually - but he went to her and she listened and understood and that was that._

_Robin remembers this and sometimes, she feels a little guilty. Like maybe she didn't actually understand, not enough, and there was something - anything - she could have done._

_Knowing him, though, probably not._

_\---------_

They've done it.

Brook's found Laboon, and passed on that one last song.

Franky's sailed the Thousand Sunny around the world, and it carries them still.

Robin's found enough of the Polyglyphs to piece together what really happened.

Chopper's been compiling everything he knows and learns about medicine, organizing it to create a library full of cures for every disease.

Sanji's found All Blue, but is still searching for even more perfect recipes and ingredients.

Usopp's visited Elbaf, been recognized as a great warrior - even the bounty posters for Sogeking now proudly bears his real name.

Nami's been drawing her map, and wants to complete it to the greatest detail possible, prowling every nook and cranny of the globe.

Zoro's beaten Mihawk, is the Greatest, and now constantly looks for a challenge.

Luffy found Raftel, One Piece, and infamy as the Pirate King, and is insistent on more adventures.

They all agree, of course. They may have succeeded, but there's always another dream.

 

\---------

 

_He said, at the time, that he told her because she was the only one who would understand. The others were all still naive, still not jaded enough to accept the possibility of death._

_It's not likely, of course, not while the rest of them are still standing to do anything about it, but they_ are _pirates and so the possibility is always,_ **always** _there. For some more than others, he pointed out._ __

_He, like everyone else on this ship full of crazy people willing to do anything for dreams, doesn't intend to die until he's done what he's set out to do._

_But after, he told her, after is a different story, and there are things that would need doing._

_\---------_

In the end, it's the stupidest little thing.

Just another routine battle with the Marines. Smoker's caught up with them, again, and has made his usual demands that they submit to Justice - the ones that started to sound fairly scripted and repetitive years ago, despite how much he still believes in them. Luffy grins, just like always, and then the standard chaos starts.

Zoro is dueling with Tashigi for the umpteenth time. She's the only one these days who comes close to beating him. Sometimes the others suspect it's why Luffy will wait a few days longer than strictly necessary on an island, to let Smoker's crew catch up. A few times, luck has favored her and not Zoro, and she's only barely lost, or he's only barely won. It's hard to tell the difference, but it's there.

Zoro is dueling with Tashigi for the umpteenth time and Sanji is practically dancing on the heads of the Marine soldiers, never quite touching the ground as he rhythmically kicks them into unconsciousness and moves on.

Zoro is dueling with Tashigi for the umpteenth time and the sound of Brook's violin seems a long way off as he sends soldiers around them to sleep, the noise intertwining with Franky's explosives and the occasional twang of Usopp's slingshot in a way that shouldn't be harmonious, but somehow is.

Zoro is dueling with Tashigi for the umpteenth time and Nami juggles her Clima Tact and releases just enough weather balls to steer both ships, pirate and marine, in the same direction while occasionally taking out marines with a stray lightning bolt. The lightning makes Chopper's fur stand on end, and the effect while he's in heavy point is incredibly intimidating.

Zoro is dueling with Tashigi and Robin carefully blocks anyone from tripping into the area they have cleared while keeping an eye on everyone else, her hands everywhere they need to be.

Zoro is dueling with Tashigi and Luffy is fighting Smoker - the way they attack cannot be called by anything so organized as "dueling" and it's honestly a miracle that no one's ship has blown up this time.

Zoro is dueling, and someone fires a gun.

 

\---------

 

_They only ever talked about it twice. The time he asked and once more, after she almost lost them all forever on Enis Lobby and finally got the courage and a quiet moment to ask._

_'How would you want to go?'_

_He'd smiled at her - a real smile full of kindness and reassurance and the love he so obviously felt for all of them - and replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world._

_'Protecting them.'_

_In a way, probably, it was._

_\---------_

Robin isn't sure which one of them the bullet should have, by rights, hit. She knows countless ways she could find out from her need to know where her nakama are in a fight like this, her knowledge of how guns work and bullets fly. Just some simple math, and she could know. But she doesn't think about it, because she doesn't think she _wants_ to know.

All she knows is that Zoro clearly did not see another way to do it, because he stands, already dripping with blood from the rest of the fight as a new wound opens on his neck and bright red begins to leak from it.

He stands, one sword extended to catch a stray blade that would have cut Luffy in the back, possibly fatally.

He stands and smiles.

He stands, and everything else simply stops.

Robin knows that the bullet wasn't meant for Luffy. Besides the complete senselessness of firing a gun at their Captain, the trajectory is all wrong. Zoro caught that bullet on his way to block the sword, and from the smile, everything went - according to the swordsman - his way.

 

\---------

_'I want to be buried at sea, I guess. I don't think that really matters. What matters is that I want the swords to go to someone worthy. I want Wado to go to that marine lady, if she's earned it, and if she hasn't I want it to go back to my Sensei in East Blue. The others... I dunno. Find some kid with a dream. Luffy will know._

_'But..._

_'I want to go protecting them. I want them to remember, but I also want them to live.'_

_\---------_

 

Luffy is the first to move, turning and catching his first mate as the man's knees give out.

And then there is a rush of movement and all of their nakama are gathered around and Smoker hasn't quite moved away and Tashigi was in the general area anyway, but the rest of the marines have backed away quickly and silently.

Chopper starts forward from the circle that's formed around the two, but Zoro shakes his head a little. Even Zoro, who's survived countless more things that he should have any right to, can't beat bleeding out entirely, as the throat wound is going to cause him to do within a few minutes. Robin knows this, and she knows that Chopper knows it and Zoro knows it and - on some level - every member of the crew knows it. But they can't quite accept that, because this is _Zoro,_ and Zoro just... doesn't die.

The one-eyed swordsman beckons a little to Tashigi, then carefully sheaths Wado and holds it out.

She doesn't take it, and his eyes harden a little.

“You didn't beat me." he rasps out, "So I damn well better hear about you beating everyone else. All the way to heaven."

Robin's eyes widen a little, and he catches her gaze and smiles crookedly. She knows what that means, but she still can't really believe that he's giving in that easily.

Except that maybe, almost, she can. Zoro's reached his goal. He's the greatest. That's that. Everyone else has more to work towards. Luffy still has adventures, Nami still has details on a map to fill in, Usopp has more stories that need telling, Sanji more dishes that need cooking. Chopper hasn't completed his library yet, she herself doesn't know all of the knowledge that was lost, Franky still has improvements to make to the ship, Brook still has songs to write. But Zoro is done, and Zoro has protected them, and he is ready, maybe, to go.

Luffy looks like he's about to cry, but isn't quite willing to, and he sits down heavily, so that Zoro, still in his arms, is now resting on his captain's lap.

Robin finally understands what Zoro has been talking about, steps forward, and rests a hand gently on the top of his head, petting green hair softly.

Chopper is next to step closer, and Zoro reaches out to ruffle his fur one last time, leaving the arm draped around Chopper's small shoulders, but allowing Nami to take the hand as she moves also.

Sanji sits down hard and without any sort of ceremony and rests one of his hands gently on Zoro's knee, Usopp claims the other as he sinks to the ground with a sigh and an almost-sob. Franky and Brook each grip a shoulder, and Zoro is left holding Wado insistently out to Tashigi, who, eventually and seemingly reluctantly, reaches out to take it.

Zoro uses his now-free left hand to pull the black bandana off of his bright green hair and press it into Luffy's.

Luffy grips Zoro's hand in his own, the bandana between them, and looks down in a silent question.

Zoro grins in response and tells them all sternly.

“All the way to Heaven."

And then, surrounded by his nakama and cradled in his captain's arms, the world's greatest swordsman dies with a smile on his face.

 

\---------

 

_‘We made a promise, Kuina and I. And since I was the only one left to keep it, the news would just have to reach her. It would have to go all the way to Heaven. That's what I want for all of you. I want you to keep living and I want to hear about it.'_

_\---------_

Months after, having sailed aimlessly until life gradually began to return to almost-normal, even as huge weights gathered dust in the crow's nest and one seat was always left empty with a place set for it, they come to an island that is chiefly made up of one large city.

They decide to walk as a group, even though probably none of them will get lost, and when they turn a corner onto the main street, Nami points up and laughs, tears in her eyes.

They follow her gaze, and one by one recognize the small symbol. Luffy is the last to get it, or maybe the first, but he takes his time looking at the small black scrap of fabric hanging out of the apartment window and gently traces his fingers over a similar piece of black tied over his left arm.

Then he grins. "I wonder if we can find more?" 

"Probably," Usopp says, "I mean, there's probably a lot of people who want to recognize him, even in just a small way."

"Yeah," mutters Sanji, looking away from the window, "Shitty bastard could pretend not to care, but he managed to 'accidentally' save an awful lot of random people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I like it." Robin says suddenly, surprising even herself. "Maybe that's another way we could show him that we're living, another way for the stories to get to him."

"All the way to Heaven." Chopper agrees softly, and then there is no question.

 

(Sanji takes to wearing lighter suits, so the black fabric always arranged just so in  his breast pocket is more visible. Nami starts tying her hair back with a piece of black cloth folded into a sort of ribbon. Chopper's backpack gains a permanent bow of black on one of the straps. Franky's shirts always have black collars now, and Brook's skull contains within it another small memento. Usopp's bandana changes from green to black. Robin begins to wear a scrap of ribbon around her wrist. Luffy brushes a bandana tied around his arm with his fingers before each and every fight. Because it is a promise, and they will remember.)

 

\---------

 

_'Live, and the stories better make it all the way to Heaven.'_

_There was a pause as he considered his speech for a moment, before tacking on  'or to Hell.'_

_And Robin had laughed softly and promised._


End file.
